Blood
by Aikiri Natsume
Summary: "We aren't friends, we're strangers with shared memories."
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own -Man.

This is my first time trying to write an action story so forgive me if the fight scenes are a little sparse. The story's timeline starts in the Rewinding Town Arc.

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The sobbing of a child echoed in a dark room, following by the sound of someone shushing the child.

"Don't cry, Erin," a quiet voice soothed, "I won't let them hurt you again." Her arms tightened around the smaller child, her cheek resting against her head. The two bodies were pressed tightly into the corner, seemingly hiding from the world.

"Big sister... I don't want to do this anymore..." Erin whimpered, "it hurts too much... Why can't I be strong like you?" Tears rolled down her cheek.

"You don't have to be strong, I'll always protect you, I won't let them take you," Kieran promised fiercely, but at that moment, the heavy wooden door swung open, the light coming from the corridor blinding them temporarily.

"Take the child," a cruel voice said, Kieran blinked and clutched on tighter to Erin, her mind registering what the voice was saying. Three men entered the room and wrestled Erin away from Kieran, another man restraining Kieran, effectively separating the two.

"NO! LET GO OF ME! ERIN!" Kieran screamed, writhing in the man's arm.

"Bring them both to Hevlaska, we'll see their synchronization rates," Leverrier said, rubbing his palms together. Erin paled and began to scream, begging them not to.

"Shut up!" Leverrier ordered and slapped Erin across the face.

"STOP! DON'T HURT HER!" Kieran screamed.

Despite their wailings, Leverrier forced them to where Hevelaska was.

"Hevlaska, check their synchronization rates," Hevelaska's tentacles reached out for Kieran, her body suspended in the air, white tendrils bringing out a cube and inserting it into Kieran's body.

"Synchronization rate... 1%... 15%... 38%... 54%... 62%... 78% Her synchronization rate is 78%." Hevlaska released Kieran who fell to her knees and gasped for breath. A man forced her to stand up.

"Good, give her her Innocence," Leverrier ordered Hevlaska, who produced a staff, the handle wrapped in bandages and the top some sort of gothic looking cross and carefully placed it in Kieran's hands who clutched it tightly.

Hevlaska picked up Erin and Kieran began to thrash around in the man's grasp, "No! Don't! She can't take it!"

"Synchronization rate... 5%... 12%..." Erin began to scream in pain, cuts and wounds opening up on her body. Hevlaska released Erin who fell to the platform, "it's impossible, she can't synchronize with the Innocence."

"Try again!"

"NO!" Kieran screeched. Hevlaska picked Erin up and inserted her white tendrils into her body. Erin's screams of pain and agony was too much for Kieran to endure, tears streaming down her face.

"Stop your whining!" Leverrier commanded.

"INNOCENCE ACTIVATE!"

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A thick grey cloak and a hood concealed most of Kieran's face and body, her brown eyes observing everything from the shadow of her hood. Most people tended to avoid her because of her shadiness, who would wear a thick cloak and conceal themselves in broad daylight if they were not involved in shady business?

The moment Kieran stepped into the town, she felt something was immensely wrong. It felt as if she was stuck in a tear in the fabric of time, it felt like something was repeating over and over again.

'_This must be the work of Innocence... Or maybe I'm just paranoid, yep, definitely paranoid,' _Kieran thought to herself, a bitter smile appearing on her face. Her hand moved up to feel for the crystal that was around her neck.

"Miranda! Miranda!" A childish chorus of voices sang and mocked. Kieran looked up to see a bunch of children mocking a lady who was dressed in black, her hair put up in a severe bun. Kieran walked over to the lady and chased the children away. A extremely frightened look was present on her face.

"Are you alright, miss?" Kieran inquired concernedly.

"Yes, I'm fine," she said unconvincingly, her hands trembling. _'I've not met this person before! Could it be-!' _Miranda thought joyfully.

Out of the corner of Kieran's eye, she saw the black coat of an exorcist, the rose cross embellished on it. Kieran cursed under her breath.

"Well, good day then," Kieran nodded her head slightly and disappeared into a nearby alley and watched the children terrorize the poor lady again, one of them threw a snake at her and she dodged easily.

"Eh? She dodged it!"

"You've been repeatedly thrown that snake at me, I'd be stupid if I couldn't dodge it!" '_Repeatedly?' _Kieran watched the woman stomp away into a nearby alley, the exorcist trailing after her. _'I'd better get out of this town,'_ Kieran walked out of the alley and retraced her steps back to where she had entered the town, but found that she could not get out. She exited the town but found herself inside again. _'This must be the work of Innocence,'_ Kieran groaned, just her luck to be stuck in a town with Innocence and exorcists.

Kieran walked aimlessly, brown eyes darting here and there, deciding to enter a pub. As she entered she spied the black coats of the exorcists. Kieran cocked her head to the side, recognizing one of the exorcists. _'Lenalee Lee...' _

Slipping silently into a booth behind the exorcists, she eavesdropped on their conversation with the woman she had met on the street before. The four men sitting at the bar seemed unnaturally tense, and Kieran reached up to pull the crystal off her necklace.

The four men transformed into Akuma and the white haired exorcist and Lenalee activated their innocence, the woman screaming hysterically.

Kieran tugged on the woman's arm, pulling her behind herself, "don't move, stay behind me." She ordered quietly, the Akuma unleashed a powerful blast of dark matter and Kieran thrust out her hand, Innocence in her palm. "Innocence activate! Protection!" A yellow barrier appeared in front of them, shielding them away from the blast, the two skidding back slightly.

Glass shattered upon the impact of the bullet and the Akuma screeched as the white haired exorcist ordered Lenalee to take Miranda away. Lenalee turned to Kieran and Miranda, and demanded to know who Kieran was. Kieran simply thrusted Miranda to Lenalee.

"Take her away," Kieran said simply and joined the battle against the Akuma. It was three level two Akuma against two exorcists.

"Who are you!" Allen demanded as he blasted at one Akuma.

"An exorcist," Kieran spat, spheres of crackling electricity appeared around them, "Thunder Bombardment!" The spheres launched themselves at the Akuma easily destroying them. The resulting blast made the two exorcists slide back.

"Whoa..." Allen gaped at how easily Kieran destroyed the three level ones. Lenalee appeared beside them, Kieran leapt back, a growing sphere of electrical energy floating above her palm.

"K-Kieran?" Lenalee reached out for the woman, fingers trembling slightly, Kieran backed away.

"It's been a long while," Kieran said in a bitter tone, Allen kept turning his face to look at the two women's faces, the crackling energy dissolving into the air. Kieran's head jerked up suddenly, her fist tightening around her Innocence. Allen's left eye activated, the black and red spreading in his eye.

"More Akumas!" Three level twos came crashing through the broken door.

"Ice Fire!" One Akuma screeched and released fire from its mouth, the three dodged the flames, the floor turning into ice.

"Sound Pulse!" Another Akuma screamed releasing sonic waves which Kieran gritted her teeth through. '_Damn Akuma.' _Kieran thought and allowed a yellow sphere to form in her palm and threw it in the direction of the Akuma screaming who flew aside.

Allen was about to fire his cannon when a eerie voice echoed through out the bar, the three Akuma froze, and flew out of the destroyed roof immediately. "What the-"

"Leave them, they're gone for now," Lenalee heaved a sigh of relief and deactivated her Dark Boots. Her hand found it's way onto Kieran's wrist as Kieran turned to leave. "Don't go, please." Doe like purple eyes stared up at dirty brown ones._'She looks so much like Erin...'_ The thought floated into Kieran's mind, and she felt an intense flood of guilt.

Hesitating for a moment, Kieran nodded stiffly, snatching her wrist away from Lenalee, a sweet smile spread on Lenalee's lips.

"Let's go find Miranda," Lenalee said and turned to walk out of the bar. Allen slipped on his white glove onto his left arm and straightened his coat.

"I'm Allen Walker," Allen held out his right hand towards Kieran.

Kieran stared at his hand as if it was a poisonous object before taking it gingerly, "Kieran Heard." The two followed after Lenalee.

"This is it," Lenalee said while looking up at a dark building with many windows, it was a sort of apartment complex. The dark oak doors swung open easily and the three exorcists climbed up the stairs with Lenalee leading them.

"Miranda?" Lenalee knocked at the door of the apartment that presumably belonged to Miranda. When there was no response from the black haired woman, Lenalee turned the knob and entered.

A shrill scream pierced the air as Miranda scuttled back till her back hit the wall.

"Spare us the dramatics," Kieran snapped, arms crossed over her chest.

"Don't suddenly come in like that!"

"We knocked but there was no answer, so we thought something happened," Allen replied sheepishly. Miranda backed away and climbed over the table still screaming. Losing her balance suddenly, the chain that she wore snapped and a winder flew through the air, the table rocking and fell over with her on it.

"Ah!" Snatching up the winder, Miranda clutched it to her chest protectively.

"Is that something precious to you?" Lenalee asked in a gentle manner, kneeling next to the woman. Miranda nodded as she secured the chain around her neck once more.

"You must think that I'm stupid..." Miranda murmured as she looked at her grandfather's clock.

"No," Allen replied, "we all carry something that's close to our hearts, something that we never want to let go of." Kieran leaned against the wall, preoccupied with a memory, a tear rolled down her cheek that did not go unnoticed by Lenalee no matter how fast she swiped it away.

"Where's the Innocence?" Kieran asked plainly. "You're obviously it's Accommodator, so where is it?"

"Kieran!" Lenalee scolded the older woman, "she's still confused, she doesn't know what's going on!"

"Let's first explain everything's that going on," Allen intervened seeing how irritated Kieran was. Allen launched into an explanation of what Innocence was, the Black Order and all the relevant details. Miranda also explained that the town had been stuck on October 28 for at least 31 days and she was the only one who seemed to notice. She also told the story of how she found her clock.

'_God damn it, I just want to find the damn Innocence, end this bloody rewinding town and get the hell out of here before they find me and bring me back.'_ Kieran thought angrily.

_**I can always get you out of here.**_

'_It'd be too suspicious, and the last time I did it I passed out for a day. And it was only a small object. Imagine transporting me.'_

_**You're much stronger now. Yet the only reason that you haven't left is because of the girl.**_

Kieran clenched her fist, _'she reminds me too much of Erin.'_

_**You should have let go of her a long time ago.**_

'_I did.'_

_**Obviously not.**_

"Leave it," Kieran growled. Allen's white hair was suspended in the air as he turned to look at Kieran.

"Did you say something?" Allen cocked his head to one side curiously. Kieran simply shook her head. "We'll have to trace the source of your Innocence activating, meaning we have to retrace your steps and go to every possible location that might have triggered the Innocence."

"How troublesome," Kieran muttered but adjusted her cloak around her, pulling the hood up and covering her face. "Let's go."

The four wandered through town, all the townspeople seemed to be suspended in motion, not able to move an inch, the only ones who were moving were the exorcists.

They visited Miranda's old haunts and they stopped by a shop, lighting glowing from inside, there they paused and Miranda told the story of how she could never resist the urge to mend the broken soft toys because she was just as broken as they were. Not finding anything useful that was related to the Innocence, they went back to Miranda's apartment.

Kieran sipped her tea while eyeing the grandfather's clock suspiciously. There was a weird air surrounding it. Miranda stood up suddenly, eyes as blank as a marble slab and Kieran turned her eyes towards her.

"M-Miranda?" Allen said in a confused voice. She mechanically went to the bed, laid down and drew the covers over her body. "You're going to sleep!" Allen yelled comically.

The grandfather clock chimed loudly, the clock had struck twelve. A darkness seeped into the room which made the three exorcists stand up, ready for an attack. Clocks floated out of the grandfather's clock and their hands began to spin anti-clockwise.

"The grandfather's clock is the Innocence!" Kieran shouted as the winding of the clock became more frantic and a strong gust of wind blew in, the grandfather clock sucking all the town's time back into it greedily. She grabbed onto the table as the wind became fiercer, Allen had done the same to Lenalee.

Suddenly light flooded the room and the clock stopped rewinding. "It's morning?" Miranda's body shot up from the bed and she rubbed her head wearily.

"When did I get into bed?" Kieran resisted the urge to smack Miranda's head, she was after all almost a stranger.

"Lenalee! Kieran! Look at this!" Kieran turned to see Allen inside the clock.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Walker?" Kieran exploded, he could be damaging the Innocence after all, she had no idea what he could have done to the clock. Miranda and Lenalee screamed.

"A human clock!" Allen grinned brightly, waving his arms about. Kieran stomped over and intended to grab him by his damn white hair, eyes widening in shock when her arm passed through the clock easily. Grabbing Allen by the lapels of his coat, she pulled him out roughly.

"Seems like Miranda is the only one who's capable of touching the clock," Allen demonstrated by plunging his hand into the clock.

"This must be the Innocence," Lenalee said in awe, "first the rewinding and now this." Miranda stroked her clock in wonder.

"This clock caused the paranormal activity...?" Miranda whipped out a knife from nowhere, a black aura surrounding her, "don't tell me you're going to break my clock!"

"Calm down, Miranda," Lenalee raised both hands in a peaceful gesture, appeasing her. "Are you sure there was nothing that triggered this? Think back to the first October 28th."

"We can't break your clock anyway, since we obviously can't touch it," Kieran scoffed, _'but I bet my Innocence can break through it.'_ The dark thought came and crossed her mind quickly.

Her face was scrunched up, Miranda was obviously deep in thought, "that day... I was fired from 100th job... and I drowned my sorrows in alcohol, wishing that tomorrow would never come..." Miranda stroked her chin.

"The Innocence granted Miranda's wish..."

"That could only mean..."

"Like I said before, she's the Accommodator for the Innocence," Kieran stated dryly, "then she can control it, tell the damn clock to stop this nonsense." Allen sweat dropped at how blunt Kieran's words were, straight to the point.

Miranda tentatively touched the glass case, "Clock, clock, turn back time now, turn it back to how it should be." Allen and Lenalee made a mad dash for the newspaper. They unfurled the roll and stared at the date.

"It's still the 28th of October..."

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AN: So yeah, that was the first chapter, hope you liked it! Kieran is sort of like a female Kanda in a way, she's very blunt and yeah, you'll find out. I'm working on the next few chapters, so tell me if you like the story!


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own -Man.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Sky'sFire who reviewed and favorited this story and to Taffdog19943 and RedTheAmazing who favorited this story. **

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_(And I can't believe_

_how I've been wasting my time)_

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Three days later, it was the 28th October for the thirty fourth time. Allen was balancing precariously on two balls while juggling an array of objects, but the most interesting bit was that he had an enormous pumpkin covering his face. How he managed to balance was a bit of a miracle.

Miranda wore her usual black dress but this time she had a black witch's hat perched on her head, a shawl draped over her thin shoulders, "tickets anyone? There's a horror play going on at the theatre~"

Many children were gawking at Allen, daringly throwing up more objects for the british boy to juggle, their parents buying tickets to see the theatre production.

"Good job, good job! Take a break~" The owner cried while clapping his hands contentedly. "The tickets are selling well! If you continue like this, we'll hire you permanently!"

"Really?" Miranda's eyes shone with happiness. Lenalee was watching the two from a corner, Kieran standing next to her, who was getting impatient at their progress. They hadn't been able to return the time to normal and she was itching to get out of the town and away from the exorcists as soon as possible, anxiety was building up in her and tension was running high.

So far they had been fired from five jobs within three days, which Kieran thought cynically, was a feat, she never knew anyone could have accomplished such a thing. The other two exorcists were trying to restore the time by trying to instill a positive mindset into Miranda and therefore lifting the burden in her heart.

"Here," Kieran lifted Allen's pumpkin head and shoved an apple into his face.

"A-ah thank you." Allen lifted the red apple to his mouth and bit down on it, savoring its sweet crunchiness.

Lenalee was tearing small bits of bread and popping it into her mouth, a satisfied look on her face. Miranda was still out on the main street selling tickets. "Allen, you're really good at juggling and doing all sorts of tricks!"

Allen nodded, placing his pumpkin head back on and turned a cartwheel, "I was a bit of a clown when I was younger. My foster parents were street performers so naturally I had to perform with them many times, that's how we made a living. I'm actually quite surprised that those skills are useful now."

"Wow, so you must have travelled a lot, that's nice," Lenalee said slightly enviously.

"It sounds nice but we barely scraped by, what about both of you? Since when did you join the Church?" Allen asked curiously. Lenalee stared at the ground before looking up again, her fingers tapping each other in a nervous gesture.

"I've been with the Church for as long as I could remember, my brother and I were orphaned by Akuma and when the Church realized I was compatible with my Dark Boots," Lenalee's fingers traced patterns on her thighs as she talked, "they took me away from my brother. It was a living nightmare staying in the Order, restricted from everything, away from the only person I love... I lost my mind, I broke down, I had to be strapped down to the bed just to make sure that I couldn't hurt myself. And all I wanted was to go home, but in the Order's eyes that was wrong because they kept telling me that the Order was my home and it hurt, it hurt so bad..." Lenalee's eyes glazed over with unshed tears, just remembering hurt. "Then nii-san came and joined the Order, for me. And things became much better."

"Wow, Komui's really cool," tears were flowing down the orange surface of the pumpkin head.

Lenalee nodded and threaded her fingers together, "I'm fighting for my brother."

Kieran had no idea who Komui was, as she had never met him, but she knew it had been hard for Lenalee, she was there to witness it after all, all the young exorcists at that time were all similar in that sense, they all had some personal tragedy that they hid deep inside of them.

"What about you, Kieran?"

"My parents were exorcists, so the Order was my only 'home'." Kieran made quotation marks around the word 'home'.

"So were you on another mission before this? Because I haven't seen you before," Allen asked. Lenalee looked up at Kieran, and Kieran looked down at the two who were sitting by the street.

"I'm good as dead to the Order, I'm probably branded as a traitor."

"Eh?" Allen exclaimed confused. "A traitor?"

Lenalee stood up immediately, "no! You're wrong! We've been searching for you after you disappeared-" Kieran glared warningly at Lenalee who shrank back a little, she opened her mouth to continue but was interrupted by another voice.

"Hey, you, the one with the pumpkin head, where do I get a ticket for 'The Pumpkin and The Witch'?" A pink tongue darted out to lick at the lollipop in her hand. The tongue belonged to a girl with blue hair that defied gravity and stuck up in all directions, and was dressed in a ruffled shirt, a red ribbon tied around the collar, a short skirt, thigh high striped socks and black mary janes. She swung around a pink umbrella with her free hand.

Allen perked up immediately and joyfully led her away, "see you later! Got to get back to work and all!" "The tickets sales are right this way~"

"What! What do you mean the sales got stolen!" The owner raged at Miranda who had fallen to the ground in fright.

"So sorry..." Tears welled up in her eyes, as she shuffled backwards slightly.

"You idiot! You're fired! Fired!"

Allen left the young girl to one side and crouched next to Miranda, "I'm so sorry, Allen, I was dealing with another customer and then the bag got..."

"What did he look like?" Lenalee and Kieran were already on the roof, waiting for the description of the man.

"A man with a brown top... he went that way..." Miranda pointed to the east of the theatre. "So sorry."

"Lenalee! Kieran!" Lenalee nodded quickly, Kieran concealed a look of disdain but nodded as well.

"Innocence Activate!" "Innocence Activate! Hermes Heels." Wings made of Innocence energy grew on Kieran's boots and propelled her through the air as Lenalee leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

Allen removed the pumpkin head and smiled gently at Miranda, his smile saying that everything was going to be alright and then took off in the same direction as Lenalee and Kieran.

"Allen..."

"Useless." "Useless." The tears finally flowed down Miranda's cheeks as the words stabbed into her heart, confirming what she knew best. That she was useless. She began to gasp for breath as her sobbing became more anguished, muttering under her breath, "why am I always like this? Why is the clock my Innocence...?"

The little girl continued to lick her lollipop as she watched Miranda sob, her sadistic side kicking in, enjoying the little scene in front of her, she swung her umbrella to rest against her shoulder and crouched down, "so your clock is the Innocence." She grinned maliciously.

In an alley on the east side of the town, the trio had managed to corner the 'pickpocket' who was backed up into a corner. Allen's left eye activated and he cursed. The man's face tore apart to reveal a monster underneath who was grinning maniacally.

"She has taken the woman you were protecting, hehe!" A scaly tongue hung out. Two more level twos appeared behind him. "Die you damn exorcists! Ice Fire!" The Akuma breathed out fire that turned everything to ice.

"Damn it's cold!" Allen said while rubbing his arms while Lenalee took a brief moment to ask him where his coat was.

"Thunder Bombardment!" Kieran shouted and electricity crackled, the spheres shooting themselves into the Akuma, piercing through them easily.

"Cross Grave!" Allen leapt up into the air, a white light shining in the shape of a cross encased in oval appeared in front of the three Akuma.

"That hurt!" The Akuma whined but spat a long train of fire at Allen, critically wounding him.

"Allen!" Lenalee cried seeing him go down, blood gushing down from his forehead. A sound wave with a high frequency pierced through Lenalee's ears and rendered her unconscious.

"Damn it!" Kieran raised her hand and electricity fused with Innocence gathered in a large sphere around it. "Thunder Rage!" As she directed the attack towards the Akuma, something stabbed her in the back, piercing through her rib cage, making her gasp. _'A giant candle?' _Kieran thought blearily, looking down at her body, the blood loss making her woozy. _'Shit.' _But a smirk appeared on her face as she watched one Akuma getting destroyed by her attack, and then she blacked out.

Allen stirred, his eyes cast on the floor, his left arm pinned to the wall with candles. He noticed his bloodied shirt and raised his eyes to look at his surroundings. Dolls were propped up against the walls and toys filled the dark room resembling a child's room. He wondered where he was.

"A-Allen..." Miranda's soft voice made him look to the right and his eyes widened at the crying Miranda, her hands chained to her grandfather's clock. He tried to move his left arm but to no avail. "Damn it!"

One Akuma was cackling in front of him, its rancid breath made Allen want to vomit.

"Mistress Road why are you making her up?"

"There's no way a mere weapon will understand. An exorcist doll is a rarity after all! Hehe!" Large purple eyes turned to look at Allen, "oh! So you're awake?" She blew a bubble. Allen's grey eyes shifted from Road to Lenalee who was sitting in a high back chair, staring blankly at her lap, Road's arms around her shoulders.

"Lenalee!" Allen cried, trying to move his left arm desperately.

"Heh~ what a cute name, Lenalee!" Road rolled the name on her tongue deciding that she liked it very much. Allen's eyes looked up and saw Kieran crucified to the wall.

"Kieran!" Road looked at Kieran, who was torn and tattered.

"She would have made a good doll but she was just so dirty," Road laughed. "And dirty things should just die."

Allen activated his left eye and focused on Road, "you're not an Akuma..."

Road giggled childishly, adjusting Allen's exorcist coat on her frame, "of course not, silly!"

"Then what are you?" Allen was sorely confused.

"A human." A maniacal grin appeared on Road's face.

"That can't be true."

"Why? Why can't Akumas and humans be friends?"

"Akuma are weapons made by the Earl that target humans..."

"Weapons can be used by humans to kill other humans, right?" A sinister look made its way onto Road's face. "The Earl is on our side. You're the apostles of a false god. We're the true apostles chosen by God." Her skin tone took on a ash gray tone, eyes turning into a gold color, "we, of the Noah Family."

The pink umbrella suddenly pressed close to Road and argued with her while Allen watched extremely confused, but there was one thing he knew. He was bloody pissed off. Ripping his arm of the wall, Road and the pink umbrella watched blankly. Allen's arm dropped to the side uselessly.

"Why are you angry?" Road approached Allen and kneeled in front of him, "can't you believe that I'm human?" Her small hands caressed his cheeks for a moment then Road leaned forward to embrace him. "Aren't I warm? Isn't this how another human feels like? There's real blood running through my veins."

"Aren't you the same as other humans?"

"The same?" Allen's white arm smashed into the Noah and ripped through her. Road mocked Allen, "we're different from you lowlifes!" Road slammed a candle into Allen's cursed eye and laughed as her skin mended and she took on her former appearance.

Miranda screamed as Allen clutched at his cursed eye, blood flowing down freely.

Kieran shook her head blearily as she tried to move her arms, _'what the fuck?' _She turned her head to see that she was crucified to the wall. She squirmed about weakly but the amount of blood that she had lost was too much and left her powerless. A bright light engulfed the room for a moment and then reduced to a shining dome, with clocks on it's surface, Kieran had to shut her eyes because it was just too bright.

Allen's activated left arm shot out of the dome and grabbed onto the armchair which Lenalee was sitting on, Road flipped lightly to avoid the arm. "His arm healed..."

A large claw secured itself around Kieran's waist and yanked her roughly towards the dome, her body skidding across the floor when she entered the dome.

"Lenalee! Kieran!" Allen looked at them worriedly.

"Can't you be a bit more gentler, Walker?" Kieran complained, clocks were slipping out of her body and she felt her body healing, "what?"

"Sorry," Allen said sheepishly, then turned to Lenalee to examine her, "no visible wounds, if we assume that the Akuma's attack reached deep enough, it probably could cause nerve damage. But since she's in here..."

Lenalee looked up, her purple eyes full of confusion, "huh?" She opened her hand and Timcanpy shot out of her hand and fluttered around excitedly.

"You know, this is touching and all but we do have Akumas outside of this dome and one crazy, powerful girl, so could we save the explanations for later?" Kieran tried to sit up but her time hadn't been sucked out enough yet so she was still quite injured, and flopped back down, hand over her wound.

Allen and Lenalee shared a look and nodded, "thank you, Miranda."

"Eh?"

"Your Innocence saved us, it sucked out all the time when we got injured," Lenalee said simply and smiled sweetly before a grim look appeared on her face.

"Enbu: Kirikaze!" Lenalee stirred up a destructive tornado that blew the Akuma away and shot out of the dome to deal with the Akuma.

"Rest first," Allen addressed Kieran and leapt out of the dome. Kieran and Miranda heard loud noises and the shouts of the Akuma, Lenalee and Allen intermingled to form a mass of noise that was hard to understand.

Miranda noticed that Kieran was standing up, and flexing her hand experimentally, "Kieran?" Kieran looked down at Miranda, her features not arranged in its usual fierce look but it was a softer look.

"Thanks," Miranda felt her head being patted and Kieran walked out of the dome. "Innocence Activate! Thunder Rage!"

"One, lero!" As the Akuma was about to self destruct, a topaz cannon struck the Akuma before it could self destruct, Road's face contorted itself into a look of rage.

"You fucking exorcist!"

"I made it in time then," Kieran stated, and smirked at Road, "did I spoil your game, little one?" Road summoned her candles and bombarded Kieran with it, a cloud of smoke resulting from the explosion.

"Kieran!" Once the smoke cleared, they found Kieran inside a clear crystal cage of sorts, the crystal cage protecting her. The crystal cage melted away and Kieran stepped out, smirking all the while.

"One last Akuma," Kieran murmured and turned to look at it. "Die." She released her Thunder Rage which the Akuma dodged, she flicked her wrist and it turned, chasing the Akuma. Allen appeared in front of it and released his Cross Paling, bombarding the Akuma and destroyed it as the other sphere came close to destroying it.

"Well, you destroyed all the Akuma, well done!" Road had calmed down and returned to her playful, childish self. "That was more fun than I expected, let's call it quits for now." The floor rumbled and a double door appeared from the floor, decorated with gold lining and a checkered print. "But crying for an Akuma is a big no-no, Allen! No one will like you~" Road said sinisterly, the double doors swung open, "let's play again sometime, exorcists!" The double doors slammed shut and disappeared.

The room began to shake violently and the three exorcists rushed to protect Miranda. The floor crumbled beneath them and they were plunged into an unending darkness.

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**A/N: **So I hope that you enjoyed this chapter which is kinda long overdue :) I've been working on Safe and Sound my other story because I've been feeling extremely down but I'll get round to writing Blood too :) I don't own Jem's 24, (the lyrics at the top) R&R


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own -Man (I wish I did though)

This chapter is dedicated to Sky'sFire, RedTheAmazing, and DarkFlame Alchemist for reviewing. And also to Sky'sFire, RedTheAmazing, DarkFlame Alchemist, Taffdog19943 and Jaxx Ren for the story fave!

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When Kieran finally came to, she was back in Miranda's apartment. Her body felt unusually heavy as she struggled to get up and leaned against the wall next to Allen who hadn't woken up. There was blood on the wallpaper and Kieran's eyes focused in and out trying to read the script.

"Fuck... you... exorcists...?" Kieran read the bloody words. Clutching at the wall she tried to get up and succeeded but swayed dangerously for a moment. She made her way outside where Lenalee was collapsed on the floor but Miranda was straining to keep her Innocence activated.

Lenalee stirred as Kieran came to kneel in front of Miranda.

"Miranda? Kieran?" Lenalee asked as Kieran nodded in response. "Where's Allen?"

"He's in the other room, he hasn't come round yet," Kieran replied as she watched Miranda who had tears streaming down her face, her arms and hands shaking crazily. "Deactivate your Innocence."

Miranda shook her head violently, "no! If I do that..." Sweat began to run down her face as well, her eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets in strain.

"Allen!" Lenalee cried hoping her loud voice will wake Allen. "Allen! Miranda's acting strangely!" Allen rushed out almost immediately.

"Miranda! Stop using your power! You're already at your body's limits!"

"I can't! If I stop the time I sucked away will come back and your wounds!" Miranda shuddered at the thought of their injuries, "your wounds will come back! And you'll die!"

Allen placed his hands on Miranda's shoulders, "stop using your power." He looked up at her and smiled softly, "stop it Miranda. You've done more than enough, and that's good enough."

Kieran slumped against the wall, "we're exorcists, we won't die that easily."

"That's right, I can bear my own injuries." Allen agreed with Kieran, and Lenalee nodded.

"Please stop." Miranda nodded shakily and clocks flew out of the grandfather clock and back into the exorcists bodies. Kieran gasped as her injuries came back full blow, passing out immediately as did Allen and Lenalee. The clock struck midnight.

Blood pooled out on the floor and Miranda shrieked and quickly dashed out of the door. She flew down the stairs, tripping and falling down. As soon as she rolled down to the landing, she picked up her skirts and ran to the building manager.

"Manager!"

"Miranda?" The manager of the building asked confusedly, his eyes widening at the gaping wounds on her hands, "where did you get those wounds!"

"Call the doctor! Call the doctor!" Miranda yelled desperately, "There are people injured!"

* * *

"Lavi lock the door, don't let anyone in."

"Got it." Allen heard voices faintly and his grey eyes blinked owlishly, only to see Komui brandishing a large dangerous drill and sat up immediately.

"Yo! You're awake?" Komui greeted cheerfully and put the heavy drill on the bedside table.

"Komui! Where am I?" Questions were thrown out from Allen's lips.

"You're in one of the hospitals that are affiliated with the Black Order," Komui explained as he sat down gracefully in a chair and crossed his legs, "good job on the mission, the town's time has been restored to normal, we have also stationed several Finders in the town just for precaution. Ms Miranda was also here but she has already dispatched for the Order."

"Eh? Then why are you here, Komui?"

"To repair you of course!" Komui showed him a thumbs up, a hard hat appearing out of nowhere. "But you won't be going back to Headquarters, we've assigned you a long term mission, we'll go through it when Lenalee wakes up."

"What about Kieran?" Komui frowned and then his face lit up.

"Oh, you mean the other woman? She's resting, she's received major damage so it'll be a while before she be up and about."

"Don't worry about them," a redhead said casually from the doorway. "Lenalee's sustained some nerve damage but Gramps is taking good care of her, he's also taking care of the other lady as well. I'm Lavi, nice to meet you." Lavi raised two fingers in greeting.

"Nice to meet you," Allen took in the appearance of Lavi, he had spiky red hair that was held up by a bandana, a eyepatch covering his right eye and a orange scarf wrapped around his neck comfortably.

"Oh yes, I have a letter for you from a Ms Miranda Lotto," Lavi pulled out an envelope from his coat's pocket and passed it over to Allen. "Komui, I'll go check on the other woman."

"Please do, make sure she doesn't run away," Komui said seriously and Lavi nodded. Lavi went into the room next door only to see another woman standing over Kieran, her hand glowing with a topaz light and was running it over Kieran's wounds gently.

"Oi! You're not supposed to be in here!" Lavi shouted and his hand reached towards his Innocence.

"Don't think about it." Her voice echoed through the small room, bouncing off the walls. Lavi reached for his hammer anyway and gripped onto the handle. The woman glared at him and thrust her hand out, an invisible force sweeping through the room slamming Lavi into the wall.

"Shit." Lavi groaned as he rubbed his stomach. A yellow light glowed below the bed, expanding to form a gothic cross inside a triangle, circles with symbols on the tips of the triangle. The woman picked up Kieran in her arms and promptly disappeared with Kieran. Lavi dashed over but by the time that he did, they had already disappeared into thin air.

"I'm in a shit load of trouble." Lavi groaned.

"Lavi!" Komui appeared in the doorway, dashing from Allen's room when he heard a body colliding against the wall, "where's Kieran?"

"Some woman conjured some magic and took her away," Lavi explained sheepishly. "She did some sort of teleportation magic."

"Damn." Komui slammed his fist against the doorframe.

"Why?"

"That was Kieran Heard, an exorcist who disappeared seven years ago, according to the records she's pretty powerful, we sorely need someone like her."

"Eh? Sorry then." Komui shook his head saying that it was alright.

"Something tells me that we'll see her again."

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The woman teleported herself and Kieran to a dense forest, propping Kieran up against a tree. Her hand glowed as she healed Kieran slowly. Kieran awoke soon after, her brown eyes dark with exhaustion.

"You're awake." The woman brushed Kieran's hair away from her eyes delicately, standing up from her kneeling position.

"Yeah, sorry to bother you again."

The woman chuckled darkly, her bright greenish blue eyes staring straight at Kieran, "well you know what to do to repay me."

"I will," Kieran said seriously, "I'll repay you for every debt I owe you." The woman leaned against a tree trunk and crossed her arms over her stomach.

"Try to sleep for the next few hours. No one will be able to find you in here and I've taken you far away from that town in Germany," the woman said and began to fade away. "I'll go now." Kieran closed her eyes and wandered into a deep sleep.

A few hours later, the sun had penetrated the thick interlocking canopy of trees and shined straight down on Kieran's face, she brought up a hand to shield her face from the light. She looked down at what she was wearing, a simple white button down shirt and tight black pants but no boots or cloak.

There was a small cloth bag next to her and it contained some money and her crystal Innocence. _'Well, some money is better than none,' _Kieran thought and set off in a random direction hoping that at the end of the forest laid a town or village.

The grass in the forest was soft underneath her feet and she felt like some sort of tree nymph walking through the forest barefooted. Occasionally she would pass by a bush filled with berries, she would pick some and pop it into her mouth. She had eaten enough of those berries over the years to know that they definitely weren't poisonous.

The sun had begun to set in the horizon when Kieran reached the end of the forest. She was lucky that there was a small farmhouse amongst the lush green fields, and the lights had just flickered on.

It was about twenty five minutes before Kieran reached the farmhouse, knocking on the wooden door lightly. A moment later, a middle aged lady opened the door. "Yes?"

"Do you know where the nearest town is?" Kieran asked politely, it wouldn't do if she was rude to a complete stranger, where was her manners if she did? She could almost hear her parents' ghosts and her master's voice scolding her if she did speak to her rudely.

"It's about a three hour walk away from here," the lady replied then looked her up and down, stopping to glance a moment longer at her bare feet, "are you planning to go there?"

"Yes, thank you for the information," Kieran turned away but the lady placed a gentle hand on her wrist.

"Wait, why don't you stay the night?"

"I would be a burden to you, it would be better if I go to the town and stay there," Kieran responded simply and the lady shook her head.

"It would be fine, my husband is staying in town for the night and my children have long moved out, there's a spare bed that you could take," Kieran saw that there was a certain loneliness in the lady's eyes. She couldn't refuse those eyes plus there was free lodging.

"If it's not too much of a trouble," Kieran said, feeling slightly uneasy.

"It's fine, dear." The lady smiled gently and Kieran was suddenly struck with nostalgia, _'she looks just like Mom...' _"Come in." Kieran walked through the doorway but stepped out again.

"What's wrong?" Kieran looked at her feet shamefully, feeling like a small lost child.

"It's just that my feet are dirty, and I don't want to-"

"Oh, my dear, that's fine," the lady wrapped her arms around Kieran, embracing her, her mouth next to Kieran's ear, "now, die." The lady's face split open to reveal an Akuma.

"You're too late," Kieran's Innocence had gathered around her arm and she pierced through the Akuma easily. Kieran had sensed that there was something infinitely wrong about the scenario the moment the woman had invited her in. The Akuma crumbled to dust and Kieran walked into the house, fully intending to stay the night.

After all, it belonged to no one now. The dead would never truly come back to life.

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So... it's a rather short chapter, I realized but the next few chapters are pretty long so they do compensate for this short chapter. Also Safe and Sound has been removed, I guess because of the suicide scene and also due to the fact that I rated it as T instead of M, I thought that the story would be suited for a T rating but I guess someone disagreed. And thus, I was banned from posting a chapter for a while.

Ciao! And also review? Stay strong and amazing!


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